Africa News

48 Students Killed In Suicide Bombing In Nigeria

At least 48 people were killed and 79 were wounded by a suicide bombing on Monday outside a school in northern Nigeria. Most of the victims were high school students.

The attacker was disguised as a student when he set off the explosion in the government boarding school in Potiskum, according to police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Emmanuel Ojukwu” author_title=”Police spokesman”]

We suspect Boko Haram is behind the attack.

[/quote]

The attack happened at 8 am as students were gathering for a school assembly, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Survivors say that around 2,000 students were gathered at the assembly at the Government Technical Science College when the explosion went off, the Boston Herald reported. A morgue attendant said that 48 bodies were brought to the hospital and appeared to all be between 11 and 20 years old.

Several attacks on schools and colleges in Yobe state in the troubled northeast region of Nigeria have targeted teachers, students and schoolboys, often killing dozens each attack. The attacks are believed to be the work of Boko Haram, an extremist Islamist militia opposed to Western secular education.

While Boko Haram has been around for about a decade, it has escalated attacks in recent years, killing thousands in the northeast. Nigeria’s military has been criticized for failing to stop the militia and accused of fleeing attacks and abandoning posts.

In February, Boko Haram killed at least 40 students by opening fire and throwing explosives into student hostels in Buni Yadi, while 42 students were killed in an attack on dormitories last year near Potiskum, CNN reported.

Earlier this year, Boko Haram abducted hundreds of girls and women, including 279 schoolgirls abducted from a school in Chibok. Boko Haram said the kidnapped girls were converted to Islam and married off.

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